How I agree with Dr Samir about this, I have been away too long, my childhood
in Goa is exactly as he described it, unhindered............
I am hugely saddened to see, hear & read the onslaught of rampant tourism,
its gone totally haywire, but with the inward migration adding to the fabric of
society but not contributing to the "wealth of the individual". By wealth I do
mean more cash needed for the needy & the hard working Goans, but also to the
nature beauty & unspoilt beaches, countryside & the "treat" of getting an
ice-cream or chocolate, jalebi or other sweets, when it was celebration time &
when it was a special occasion.
Now the children demand much more than an old bicycle (with no tyre) and a
stick to race your friends by, to throw sticks, stones & whatever you have to
get a mango (or several) from a tree overlapping into the road....... or
watching the dobi doing the laundry, surrounded by soap suds & gushing
water............ the simple jumping into the well & having fun with your
friends during the moonsoon when the wells were overflowing, sitting by the
stream with a simple hook & a worm or two to catch fish (to take home to eat of
course).
Ah yes, Dr Samir, those WERE the days. I hope & pray there are some parts of
Goa that I will see have not changed too much because we plan to visit end of
this year, some 46 years too late I know, Goa was not forgotten or forsaken by
me, it was for other reasons too personal to go into right now, but I (with my
wife & two daughters who have not seen Goa at all), will be coming end of this
year.
I have been lucky enough to get many personal emails from very nice
Goanetters who have volunteered to help us around, from reasonably priced
places to stay in Margao & Mapuca to the rather more posh places (anything over
2 star is posh for me).
If anyone has the spare time, perhaps suggesting places we could visit on our
very brief fortnight in Goa, we would love to hear from you. I am still trying
to trace my Portuguese family tree in Goa, we have got nowhere with our
enquiries, a blind alley here & a suggestion there, but in total, I cannot
remember exactly where in Goa we resided, no address or anything but I can
remember certain details only, I left when I was 11 years old.
John Monteiro
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sandeep heble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Of beach umbrellas...by Dr Samir Heble.
I remember the pristine Goa of my childhood: the beautiful beaches and Dona
Paola untinged, unlike todayâs worldly consumerism, the sandy sands where we
could revel in the simple yet rich pleasures of life and the azure seas that
were crystal clear. It is indeed a sad time now that beach umbrellas have begun
encroaching on the public beaches. I hope we are not evolving into a
narcissistic society, a society more interested in enriching individual purses
than in enriching Goa's natural beauty. Some years ago when Bill Clinton had
visited the Taj on his official presidential tour, he had remarked: "There are
only
two types of tourists, those that have visited the Taj and those that havenât
". At that time, I had the same feelings for Goa too. I do want to believe the
same now too. Our innocent children want to run around and play on our beaches,
unhindered by our rich umbrellas. We yearn to enjoy the serenity of our
uncluttered beaches too. Simple can be beautiful. Simple can be soothing.
Letâs keep Goa simple and clean and make it even
richer. Dr Samir Heble
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